Shuffle for two zilla parishads

July 17: The Jalpaiguri zilla parishad was dissolved by the district administration today to pave way for the formation of the zilla parishad in Alipurduar district.

The Left Front which has majority in the dissolved Jalpaiguri zilla parishad will be ruling the Alipurduar zilla parishad as well.

“The Jalpaiguri zilla parishad board was dissolved at the instruction of state panchayat and rural development department so that a board can be created for the new Alipurduar district. Those elected to the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad will be members of the zilla parishads in either Jalpaiguri or Alipurduar depending on the location of their constituencies. They can elect the new sabhadhipatis and karmadhyashas and form the permanent committees or sthayi samitis,” said Dibyendu Das, the additional district magistrate of Jalpaiguri.

The old Jalpaiguri zilla parishad had 37 seats and the Left Front had won 27 of them. While four members each belonged to the Trinamul Congress and the Congress, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the JMM bagged one seat each. Of the four Congress members, three have joined Trinamul and the other one, Mohan Sharma, is slated to follow suit soon.

“After the division, Jalpaiguri will have 19 zilla parishad seats with 14 being held by the LF. In Alipurduar, the Left’s tally will be 13 in the 18-member rural body. That means the Left will be controlling both the rural bodies. While Trinamul will have four members in Jalpaiguri, the Congress will have none. The remaining one seat will be the JMM’s,” said an observer.

In Alipurduar, Trinamul will have three members. If Sharma joins Trinamul, its tally in Alipurduar will reach four and the Congress won’t have a single member.

The observer said Trinamul would get the leader of opposition posts in both the zilla parishads.